Ever tried looking for your perfect partner on the internet? The heroine of Jane Moore's new novel, dot.homme, does just that.

Jane reveals the pros and cons of internet dating to Hannah Stephenson - and why she'd rather her children found their partners through conventional routes.

There have never been more opportunities for finding a partner than there are today.

They range from traditional agencies to speed dating to finding a match on your mobile - and it is estimated that one in five single adults in Britain uses a dating service.

The idea of meeting the man of your dreams via the net is the inspiration behind columnist and TV presenter Jane Moore's latest novel, dot.homme, which centres on a 34-year-old single woman whose friends buy her an ad on an internet dating site for her birthday.

She then embarks on a series of dates with a motley crew of males in search of her perfect partner.

To research the book, Jane trawled the internet and had no problem finding a plethora of internet dating sites, from match.com to ukcupid, luckylovers and whereheartsmeet.

"It's really a sex supermarket," she says.

"It's like shopping at Sainsbury's as you scroll down picture after picture of men until you find one you like.

"You enter your preferred age group, appearance, such as eye and hair colour, and other requirements and the search engine tells you it has found 4,300 matches, which indicates you haven't been picky enough, or that it has just found something like two."

The stigma of meeting someone through a dating agency has now gone and, in America, internet dating has become the coolest way to find love and the UK isn't far behind.

"We used to think, `How pathetic', but now the British are so much more open about it. It's almost the same as going to the gym," says Jane.

"So many of us have such busy lifestyles that we haven't time to spend three hours in our local wine bar eyeballing a prospective partner, only to find at the end of the evening that they are married with four children."

While Jane, 42, is happily married to Sony music chief Gary Farrow, who she first met at the Brit awards, some of her girlfriends are heavily into internet dating.

But the male who is up for grabs may not be all he seems.

"Some of the pictures have been taken in a darkened room, or the top of the head isn't shown so it's obvious they are bald and a lot older than they are letting on."

But looks aren't everything, she agrees, and in this respect many suitable men can be overlooked.

"One of my friends went on a date and for the first five minutes the guy seemed really unattractive. But when she got talking to him he was really funny and they ended up dating for about four months."

Despite her insight into internet dating, Jane has yet to find a couple whose high-tech love affair has lasted.

Jane and Gary have three daughters (two from previous relationships). How would she feel if they started internet dating?

"I'd want to have a good look at who they'd chosen first. And I'd ask them to set up a separate email address which could be closed down at a moment's notice and make sure they didn't reveal any information about themselves like where they lived.

"But I would still hope they'd meet someone from their social circle in a more conventional way.

"With web dating, you embark on a date in a very abrupt way and you may well come out of the relationship in a similar way. It can lead to a lot of fast liaisons rather than long-lasting ones.

"My experience in life is that relationships with men who are your friends first, last longer."

dot.homme, by Jane Moore, is published by William Heinemann at #9.99.

Page 2: Pros, cons and safety tips

Pros, cons and safety tips

Pros

You don't waste a lot of time in wine bars and nightclubs looking for Mr Right. You simply fast-forward to select a shopping basket of men you find attractive.

It gives you anonymity. Meet your date in a public place and If you don't like the look of them you can sneak away.

Setting up a temporary email address for respondents is the only way they can contact you.

Cons

You dismiss people who might not look quite right, judging them by the superficial criteria of a photo.

The description of the prospective date doesn't always match the reality. Cuddly may mean obese, while romantic could equal penniless.

There's no romance involved in setting up a date.

Safety tips

Always meet in a public place.

Protect your privacy. Don't reveal information which could expose your identity until you are confident that it is safe. Use your instincts.

Tell a friend that you're going on the date and print out the profile by your phone, writing where and when you are meeting.

Be aware that others may misrepresent themselves on the internet. Watch out for inconsistencies in what they write. If the information is blatantly false, notify the site's administrators.

Make sure any phone number given by your date is a real, valid number before you meet.